Almost Lost His Chance
by mynextlife
Summary: She couldn't possibly want a former Death Eater, so he will continue to act stupidly around her.


Luna glanced at the clock and groaned into her pillow. There was only one person that would come knocking at two in the morning. She debated ignoring the knock, but her heart would not let that happen. Clearly her heart enjoyed being shattered every time he came over.

"I'm coming, Draco." She hoped that he would be sober, but most likely not. It really shouldn't have surprised her that he would be showing up. He had been dating this last girl for about 6 months and it was about time for a break up. She opened the door, surprising Draco mid knock.

"Luna, I was worried you were not home." The slurring of his words confirmed that he had been drinking. "Come on in Draco, make yourself at home." He seemed to miss the sarcastic tone as he walked past her and tumbled onto the couch in the sitting room. "Did you redecorate?"

Luna summoned some coffee and offered him a cup. She wondered if he remembered what she told him about the flat. "No, Draco. What seems different?" Draco furrowed his brow trying to concentrate. "It seems a bit blurry. I thought you changed the paint." He took a sip of his coffee and then spit it out. "That is foul." Luna nodded. "Yes, but it will sober you up. Keep drinking"

Draco took another sip, but only made a face at the taste. "I love you, Luna. You make everything better." Luna sighed and willed the tears away. It was the only time he would say it to her, so she took what she could get. He wouldn't remember in the morning anyway. "I love you, too. Let's get you to bed."

Draco put his cup down and stood on wobbly legs. Luna wrapped her arm around his waist and guided him to the spare bedroom. She laid him on the bed and removed his shoes. "I really do love you. Why do I end up this way? Do you love me? Say that you do." He took her hand and kissed the back. He had never done that before and it worried her. "Yes, Draco, I love you, too. Now you need to sleep. We can talk in the morning."

Draco nodded, but wouldn't let go of her hand. "Please stay." She stood by the bed and watched his glassy grey eyes finally shut and his hand fall from hers. She quietly left the room, closing the door behind her, and returned to her own bed to cry herself to sleep.

Draco rolled over and groaned as pain shot through his head. He opened one eye and recognized the light blue curtains and plaid comforter. He closed his eye, hoping he might open them again and not be in this room. Sadly, when he opened both eyes, he was still in Luna's spare bedroom.

He wondered why Luna put up with him when he was like this. He was madly in love with her, but knew she didn't want him. In an effort to get away from his feelings, he dated other girls. Everything starts out alright until they talk of marriage. He might be more open to the idea if they talked about being in love and not about what they could do with all his money.

Last night was no different. He broke up with Leslie and then proceeded to do a solo pub crawl through London. He always wanted to be alone, but once he started drinking, he wanted to share his troubles but no one wanted to listen and he would eventually be thrown out. He always ended his nights at Luna's flat.

He remembers hitting at least three pubs, but was sure several more were involved given his severe hangover. How he managed to apparate to her house and remain in one piece was always a mystery and he thanked the powers that be that he was not hurt, or killed. He never remembers knocking or Luna letting him in or getting into bed. What he does always remember is the sad, pathetic look she gives him the next morning.

Deciding that he should get the reprimanding over with, he got out of bed, but had to rush to the bathroom to empty his stomach of all the alcohol he drank last night along with anything he might have eaten. He found the toothbrush Luna usually left for him in the cabinet and brushed his teeth. Curiously there were no clean clothes on the end of the bed as usual. He looked around and noticed that the dresser was also missing.

Using a quick cleaning spell, he freshened up his clothes and appearance and then headed out of the bedroom. As he made his way through the flat, he noticed that many items he was used to seeing were not in their usual places. In fact, they seemed to be missing entirely.

He could hear her puttering about in the kitchen and headed in that direction. Sadly, his head began throbbing more at the sight before him. The kitchen was bare, except for the table and one chair, and Luna was magically packing many of her small kitchen appliances. "Feeling better, are we?" He sat at the only chair and took the cup of coffee that appeared in front of him.

"What is going on?" He began panicking at the thought that Luna was going to be leaving and not have told him. His whole world was going to tilt off its axis if he lost her. "I'm moving. I told you three weeks ago. Wait, you probably weren't listening while Leslie had her tongue in your ear while you floo called me. What happened last night?"

Draco blinked at her tone. She couldn't possibly be mad. "I broke up with Leslie. It wasn't going to work out. Where are you going?" Luna had stopped and finally turned to meet his eyes. Instead of pity he was surprised to see anger.

"I'm not telling you right now. I don't want you showing up in the middle of the night wanting me to put you back together. Finish your coffee and then please leave." She turned back to her packing and closed her eyes as she heard the scrapping of the chair and then the _whoosh_ of the floo. She put her head in her hands and let the tears fall.

Pansy was quite concerned with Draco's behavior. He was normally, and understandably, distraught after a breakup, but this was new to her. He had sat down for lunch and proceeded to push his food around his plate as if he could cover up the fact that he hadn't eaten anything. "She is moving."

Pansy nodded her head. "You told me three weeks ago." Draco gave her a look of surprise. "I don't remember her telling me. I don't remember telling you." Pansy was not surprised. Leslie had made it her mission to keep Draco away from all his female friends. Pansy had ignored the veiled and outright threats from Leslie and continued to see Draco as she always had.

"I'm not surprised. Leslie was not a fan of the other women in your life. We only went out to lunch when I came to physically remove you from your house. Your life was otherwise consumed with work and Leslie. I believe she was going to make a move to have you quit your job to spend all your quality time, and money, on her." Draco gaped and then furrowed his brow thinking about the last six months with Leslie.

Pansy smirked when Draco let out a gasp, finally realizing what everyone else had already concluded about the relationship. "Why didn't you say anything? I can't believe you wouldn't want to." Pansy shrugged. "You wouldn't have listened. You try so hard to like the girls you date that you fail to listen to reason. If you would ask out the one I know you are actually in love with, everything would be fine."

Draco narrowed his eyes at her. "What do you mean?" Pansy rolled her eyes. "Draco, it is so obvious. Why do you always end up at Luna's? Why do you never want to marry any of these girls? You are madly in love with Luna. I can see it as plain as day. I bet Harry can see it, too. You should ask him when you go back to work." Draco rubbed his hands over his eyes. He thought he was so careful.

"Well, it doesn't matter. She doesn't even like me. I think she just puts up with me because she has a good heart. Now she won't tell me where she is moving. Do you and Harry know?" Pansy let out a sigh. Harry, her dearest husband, was Luna's best friend. She had told them, but made it perfectly clear that she didn't want Draco to know and continue to show up on her doorstep.

"Yes." Draco's eyes widened in surprise. "Can you tell me?" Pansy shook her head. "She doesn't want you to know." Draco opened and closed his mouth several times. "Why?" Pansy wondered why the two of them were so dense.

"Draco I am only going to tell you this one time. Then you need to decide how much you want to have Luna in your life." He looked ready to protest, but she held up her hand to stop him. "She loves you. Why else would she put up with you after all this time? Now, what are you going to do?"

Harry placed another shrunken box into the larger box already containing several other shrunken boxes. He hadn't realized that Luna had accumulated so much stuff in the seven years she had live in the flat. "Where did all this stuff come from?" He looked around the kitchen and counted at least ten more boxes that needed to be shrunk and placed in the bigger box.

Luna looked around at the multitude of boxes and shrugged. She had wondered the same thing as she had packed them. "I'm not sure. I think I just like to collect things. I should have weeded out the stuff I don't usually use, but I was afraid. Maybe I should have Pansy help me unpack. She wouldn't have a problem helping me get rid of a few things." Harry smiled at the thought of his wife unpacking Luna's new flat.

"I heard that Draco made an appearance the other night. I'm sorry. Pansy said he was rather irate that you won't tell him where you are moving and even angrier that Pansy and I won't tell him." Luna sighed and shook her head at the silliness of the whole situation. "I don't mean to cause trouble. My heart needs time to mend. I can't continue to place myself in that situation. I need some peace."

Harry wasn't sure she would find peace without Draco, but was glad that she realized that it wasn't good to always be the one to pick up his broken heart. "I think he loves you, Luna." Harry was surprised to see her go completely still and then several of the glasses on the counter waiting to be boxed up shatter. "That is not funny, Harry. If that were true then I wouldn't have to see him every time he broke up with someone else. You are mean."

Harry's heart broke when he saw a few tears. He didn't want to hurt her, but she needed to know. Pansy had said that she told Draco about Luna's feelings, so it was only fair that she knew about his. For being two of the most intelligent people he knew, they seemed rather stupid when it came to dealing with each other.

"I'm not trying to be mean. He does love you, but feels that he doesn't deserve you. He dates these other girls to try to get you off his mind. It obviously isn't working. Besides, why would he continuously show up at your house every time things fell through?" Luna wiped a few tears away. Why hadn't Harry brought this up sooner? Why now, when she was moving?

"It doesn't matter. I'm leaving." Harry wrapped her in a hug and let her cry into his chest. He hoped Draco would come to his senses before it was too late.

Draco, of course, had muddled everything up again and had not seen Luna before she moved. He had wanted to, desperately, but always talked himself out of confessing his feelings for her. It had been three months since she moved and he was taking it very hard.

"Draco, if you can't concentrate then go home. I'm doing all the paper work as it is and having you staring off into space and heaving huge sighs every minute is not helping. I'm about ready to hex you." Harry glared at him from his side of the office. Draco cringed, afraid of having a repeat of when they were first assigned as Auror partners six years ago.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize. I will bring coffee in the morning. Anything else?" Harry rubbed his tired eyes. Dealing with Draco on a good day was tiring. Having Luna out of his life for the past three months was, surprisingly, detrimental to Harry's well being as well. "No. Get a good nights sleep. We have that raid tomorrow. I don't want to train another partner."

Luna was pacing a track in the horrible laminate flooring of St. Mungo's. If they had placed it there hoping to calm nervous visitors waiting on the condition of their loved ones, they had sorely missed the mark. She couldn't tell if the floor was supposed to be an odd combination of mustard and pea colored spots or if it hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in decades.

Pansy and Harry were sitting in two of the chairs, whispering to each other. Harry had a bandage wrapped around his head, covering his right eye, and one covering his right forearm. Pansy had been leaking tears from the moment she had floo called Luna. She continued to cry and carefully run her gaze over Harry making sure that everything was really alright and in one piece.

Draco, on the other hand, had not been so fortunate. The raid had gone downhill almost from the get go. The fugitives knew the Aurors were coming and planned several traps. Whatever had hit Draco had knocked him out and nearly crushed his chest. He had also suffered a broken leg and shattered pelvis when a book shelf fell on him. He was in a healing coma to mend the various broken bones, but had to have magic to help him breath while his crushed lungs healed.

Luna had been near hysterics when she arrived, but had been barred from his room until he was stable enough to breathe on his own. She had been surprised that she was listed as the person to make all the medical decisions if he was incapacitated. She desperately hoped that she wouldn't have to make any hard decisions.

They were all startled when the Healer came into the waiting room. "We have been able to get him to breathe on his own, but the bones still need to heal. You may visit him, but only one at a time." Pansy stood and headed towards the door. "Do you want to go first, Luna?" She shook her head and watched as Pansy left with the Healer, then sat heavily in a chair.

Harry came and sat next to her, taking her trembling hands in his. "I'm sorry Luna." She allowed the tears to fall. "It's not your fault. I'm so scared." Harry hugged her close while she cried uncontrollably into his chest. "He will be fine. He is rather stubborn and I already told him that I won't be training a new partner."

Pansy came back about ten minutes later, wiping more tears from her eyes. "He looks better than I expected, but he is still out. I'm ready to go home." Harry nodded, glad that he wasn't expected to visit with Draco. He had brought him in and it was horrible. He wanted to see Draco when he was fully recovered so that he could get the images of a dying Draco out of his head. "Luna, do you want to come home with us or visit with Draco?"

Luna wiped a few tears from her eyes. "I will stay. I'll let you know if anything changes." Harry and Pansy gave her a hug and then left for the floo. Luna left the waiting area and headed toward Draco's room. She stood outside the door for several minutes, gathering her courage to enter. Hearing he had been injured had nearly undone her and she wasn't sure she could face the damage.

After the third Healer to pass asked if she was alright, she decided that it was time to go in. Since he was an Auror, Draco was given a private room with the best care. The room was comfortable enough, with his bed and two chairs for visitors. There was another door off to the side that she assumed was the private bathroom.

It was dark outside by this time, but there was an artificial glow about the room. She looked at the bed and immediately burst into tears. His chest was completely wrapped in white bandages as well as his entire right arm. The lower half of his body was covered by the sheet, but she knew he had several bandages under there as well.

She sat in one of the chairs and took his hand. It was terribly cold and very limp. "You cannot die on me. I love you." Luna allowed the tears to fall, gripping his hand tighter. She watched as his chest rose and fell with each breath, giving her some small amount of comfort.

Finally feeling exhausted and knowing that he was out of immediate danger, she placed her head on the bed and fell asleep, still clutching his hand.

Draco felt as though he had been run over by a heard of dragons. Every fiber of his body ached. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt so heavy. Breathing slowly, he tried to remember where he was. He didn't think that he was suffering from a hangover since more than just his head hurt. He remembers being with Harry, so maybe something happened at work.

He finally managed to open one eye, but was nearly blinded by the bright whiteness of the room. So he was in St. Mungo's. He managed to open the other and looked around. He could see that his entire torso was covered in bandages as well as his entire right arm. He winced at the faded Mark marring his left arm, completely uncovered.

He continued looking down his body, but stopped and stared at the mass of blonde hair piled by his waist. He must be dreaming if Luna was sitting by his bed. She had moved away three months ago and had not wanted to see him. It had surprised him that they both worked in the Ministry and yet she had managed to completely avoid him.

He raised his right arm and placed his hand on her head. If it was a dream he might as well enjoy it while he could. Her hair was so beautiful and felt just as soft as he had always imagined. "I love you, Luna."

He was startled when he saw her bright blue eyes staring back at him and his heart tugged painfully as he watched tears gather in her eyes. "Why do you always say that when you are not in your right mind?" He furrowed his brow trying to remember if he had ever told her that. "What do you mean? I always tell you that in my dreams."

Luna rolled her eyes and lifted her head. Her back protested painfully as it cracked when she tried to straighten up. "Draco, you are not dreaming. You are in St. Mungo's. You had an accident during your raid two days ago. Do you remember?" Draco closed his eyes and ran his left hand through his hair. Even his hair seemed to hurt.

"Was I with Harry? Is he alright? Pansy will never forgive me if something happens to him." Luna took his hand again trying to calm the hysteria beginning to take him over. "Harry is fine. You are the one we are all worried about. You need more rest." Luna handed him the vial the Healer had told her to give him to sleep more if he woke up.

Before she could move away, he grabbed her hand. "Will you be here when I wake?" Luna allowed a few tears to fall, but nodded. He reached out and brushed away the tears. "Please don't cry." She nodded again, but couldn't help the tears that kept falling. He took the potion and she watched as he drifted off again.

The next time he woke, he was greeted by the worried face of Pansy. She looked to have been crying and not sleeping for several days. Maybe his dream had been his way of dealing with the fact that Harry had been gravely hurt. "Pansy?"

Pansy jumped a bit, but smiled and gripped his hand. "Draco, I was so worried. Are you in any pain?" Draco looked at himself again and noticed that he was still covered in bandages. "Not too much. Just cover my arm." Pansy pulled the sheet up to cover the Mark that would probably haunt Draco until he died.

Draco relaxed a bit once it was out of sight. He hated the thing and always covered it, even while sleeping. Seeing it on his arm constantly reminded him of all the stupid things he had done in his life, many he wished he could do over. It was such a sore spot with him that he even refused to have sex without a shirt on. All his girlfriends had thought it was silly, until they saw it as well. Sadly, there never seemed to be enough sex in any of his relationships.

"How are you today? Harry would be here, but he has to fill out a million papers about what happened. We are so glad that you are alive and awake." Draco closed his eyes, feeling tired again. "I'm sorry, Pansy. Is Harry alright? Is he angry with me?" Draco hoped he hadn't done something stupid and would need to find a new partner.

Pansy pushed some hair away from his face. "No. He was hurt, but not as badly as you. He can explain more when he comes, but I think you all walked into a trap." Draco nodded his head, feeling a head ache coming on. "How long have I been here?" He looked around the room to see if there were any traces that Luna's presence had been anything but a dream.

"Three days. Luna was here for the first two, but I sent her home about two hours ago to get some decent sleep and freshen up." Draco's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "She was here? It wasn't a dream? I am such an idiot." Pansy gave his hand a squeeze. "You are not, but you had better explain that you do love her and make sure you are not on anything. She seems to believe that you only say that while intoxicated."

Draco groaned and turned his head away in embarrassment. He needed to get his act together if he was going to get another chance with Luna. "You are right." The rest of the time they chatted about small things until Draco's strength began flagging and he fell back asleep.

Luna watched as Draco slowly woke. He was so adorable with his hair sticking out in all directions. He always looked like a lost little boy despite his 28 years. He had no idea how much her heart would race when he would come into the kitchen a mess after another breakup and night of drinking. She had remembered to cover his arm so that he wouldn't have to look at the Mark.

His grey eyes opened and tried to focus. When he looked at her he gave a huge grin. "You came back. I thought you had been a dream, but Pansy said that you had been here." Luna brushed some hair out of his face and smiled. "You scared several years off my life. You owe me." Draco gave a small nod.

"Why am I listed as the person to make the tough medical decisions?" Draco had hoped that she would never have to find that out. He had listed her before he had developed feelings for her, just when he had entered training and they had begun running into each other at the Ministry.

"I put you on there because I thought you would be able to make those decisions without getting too emotional. You are always so level headed. Pansy would have tried to keep me alive for years no matter if I was awake or not." Luna took his hand. "I don't think I would be any different. Please don't do that again."

Draco rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand. "I do love you. I'm sorry that I'm not always with it when I tell you. Where are you living? I need to be able to see you again." Luna looked at their hands and sighed. Three months had been hard on her as well.

"I love you, too. I just needed to know that you weren't going to come stumbling to me as a last resort. I'm not sure how many more repairs my heart can take. I live a block from the old flat." She offered a sheepish smile.

Luna glanced at the clock and groaned. Why does Draco need to make so much noise when he comes home? She managed to sit up in bed just as Draco stumbled through the door. He stopped in the doorway when he realized that she was glaring at him. "What?"

Luna rolled her eyes at him. "Why must you be so loud? It is past one in the morning. Most people are asleep. Go and quietly take a shower and come to bed." Draco quietly removed his clothes as he made his way to the bathroom. He wasn't sure there was a way to use a shower quietly, but he did his best.

He donned his sleep pants and climbed into bed next to Luna. "Are you alright? Nothing bad happened? How is Harry?" Draco placed a kiss to the back of her head. "We are both in one piece. I'm sorry I'm late. The team replacing Harry and I on the stake-out was late because they were following up on another lead."

Luna pushed back into his chest, comforted by the steady beat of his heart. "It beats for you," he had told her once, shortly after they had started dating. That was nearly a year ago. Draco had moved into her flat three months after the fateful raid had landed him in St. Mungo's and they have never been happier. Pansy told her she was trying to convince Draco to ask her to marry him, but was glad that Draco was moving in his own time.

She was just about to fall asleep again, when Draco began speaking to her. "I love you. Will you marry me?" Luna's eyes shot open and she turned in his arms. "What?" Draco blushed, something she didn't get to see often. "I had it all planned out for tonight, but then I had to leave later. Actually, I have been planning this for a month, but Harry was getting mad that I hadn't asked you yet. Will you marry me?"

Luna looked at the ring in his hand. It was a huge diamond set in platinum, clearly a testament to the Malfoy wealth. She held out her hand for him to place the ring on, watching as it magically sized itself to her slim finger. "Yes, yes, yes!" Draco looked relieved before kissing her. He realized that he was very lucky to have come to his senses.


End file.
